Berri Sets Date for Legislative Session, Dubs Trash Crisis as 'Farce'

Speaker Nabih Berri dubbed on Wednesday the four-month trash crisis as a “farce”, and scheduled a legislative session on the November 12.

“The trash crisis has become a farce. It is unacceptable that it stays trapped in bickering and disputes among the regions,” said Berri after his weekly meeting with lawmakers.

The speaker had called for general legislative sessions at 11:00 am and in the afternoon on November 12 and another session the day after at noon in order to tackle and approve several draft laws listed on the agenda.

Lawmakers quoted Berri as saying that “resuming legislative work has become more than necessary for the country. The situation cannot continue the way it is in light of the aggravating financial, economic and social threats.”

The cabinet has been so divided that it has failed more than two dozen times to elect a successor to president Michel Suleiman, whose mandate expired in May 2014.

The country has not had legislative elections since 2009, with parliament meeting only to extend its own mandate twice.

The deadlock has manifested itself most recently in a trash crisis created by the government's failure to respond to the closure of the country's largest landfill.

D.A.

M.T.